The classic Abbott and Costello comedy routine of “Who’s on First” comes to mind when I read through Romans 7:15-20 “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who does it, but it is sin living in me. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” Or, if that one is a little too tricky we can sum it up with one verse from the New Living Translation of that same scripture. “I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.”
There is small consolation in the fact that the Apostle Paul, probably one of the most devote early Christians was the author of this plead for mercy and grace. Yet the fact that Paul, a man after God’s own heart faced the same dilemmas that we face some two thousand years later let’s us know that this isn’t something novel to our day and time, it is actually timeless. Adam and Eve, Joseph and his brothers, Samson and Delilah, Judas and Jesus, the list goes on and on and is definitely not limited to folks in the Bible. I guess the real question is what do you and I do about this situation in our own walk with our Heavenly Father?
The choices Paul describes are real today, just as real, if not more so as they were when Paul wrote this terse admission of guilt during his time in Rome. The question is, why is this such a problem and how do we overcome the temptations to bring our hearts, minds, and choices under submission.
I liken this dilemma to something I have always taught the athletes I’ve coached. In any sporting endeavor, or really in any competitive situation, there will be struggles. Learning a new move, working on a certain aspect of the game you love, or facing that one opponent that seems to just have your number conflict and challenge will be present. The easy thing to do is to give up or give in, but that is monumentally the wrong thing to do. The hard thing to do is to keep fighting the urge to give in or give up. That takes will power, trust, and faith that the short-term gratification will never be able to compare with the long-range outcome if we stay the course and don’t give in. I tell my athletes, “don’t let your body tell you what to do, you be mentally stronger than your physical self and then you are the one that tells your body what to do.
Somebody out there is saying “talk to your body and tell it what to do, is this guy crazy or what?” The truth of the matter is that we are in a battle between good and evil in our minds and our mind will tell us to go or stay, to pick up and leave, or to stick it out and stay. I know what is the right thing to do, but it seems like I always end up choosing the thing I know is the wrong thing to do. Sound familiar? Sound a little like Paul?
You have to be stronger than your body and, in most cases, you have to be stronger than your intellectual mind. The strength I speak about is one that is wrought through hard, disciplined work and in most cases the fortitude of the will is a result of learning through mistakes of the past and pursuing a relationship with the One person that can give you the strength and tools you will need to overcome evil in your life.
In the Abbott and Costello skit I’m pretty sure they never really figured out who was actually on first base, but I am certain that if we attempt to make the right choices on our own the outcome will more than likely end up causing us heartaches and hardships. But, if we develop our relationship with God, nurturing it with trust, time, and faith, then we can expect our decisions to be tremendously easier to make, and the hard times a little easier to endure. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths” Proverbs 3:5-6.
Coach Carter
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